Wander Lost

Cyclocross Season Kick-Off: ‘CrossVegas’ Race

September 14th marked the first UCI cyclocross race of the 2011 season with CrossVegas in Sin City, a.k.a., Las Vegas. As if being in the front row at a professional race isn’t exciting enough, the race goes down smack in the middle of the Interbike trade show week. Further intrigue: CrossVegas is held after dark and under lights just to ramp up the party atmosphere — beer tents and free cowbells encourage attendees to raise their voices and make some noise to cheer racers who come from around the world. This year, our resident pro photographer, T.C. Worley, who doubles as a contributing editor for the site, was in Vegas to grab images of the action. Here’s what he saw.

Hairpin run-up was a popular spot for dollar hand-ups

Warming up before the Elite Men’s race

Team Clif Bar’s Troy Wells giving chase from mid-pack

Zach McDonald of Team Rapha Focus rode to an 11th place finish

Elite women blast from the start chute

LTS/Felt rider Ryan Trebon raced to a 5th place finish

Congrats to women’s elite winner Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) who crossed the line alone, 12 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. For the men, young gun Lars van der Harr (Rabobank), the current under-23 Cyclocross World Champion, proved he had the stuff to run with the big boys this year when he took the lead in a three-way end sprint and a photo-finish to scoop the top spot!

—T.C. Worley covered CrossVegas for GearJunkie.com last September. See his images from the 2010 race here.